Sunday, November 09, 2014

The University of North Dakota swept the Wisconsin Badgers in convincing fashion beating them 4-3 on Friday night and then blitzing them 5-1 on Saturday night.

On Saturday, North Dakota goalie Zane McIntyre stopped 23-of-24 shots and UND got five goals from five different players (Luke Johnson, Drake Caggiula, Brendan O’Donnell, Troy Stecher, Gage Ausmus) to finish the sweep against the Badgers.

From the historical stats department: With Saturday’s victory over Wisconsin, UND (7-1-1) is unbeaten in eight games (7-0-1). With the road win, UND improves 5-0-0 on the road for the first time since the 1980-81 season.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

In a season that looked like we were going to be where Miami ended up this season, this group of guys showed the NCAA you don't need an explosive goal scorer to have success.

Even though the season ended in a heartbreaking fashion, this UND team has a solid base for the future ahead.

Now for my team awards. I will be giving out awards for my team MVP, Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and this years Unsung Hero.

So here we go. For my team MVP, I give it to a kid who has battled in every single game he has played this season. I consider him the backbone of this very hard working team. My MVP is goaltender Zane Gothberg. Gothberg ended his season with a 1.99 goals against average after going on one of the most impressive runs a UND goaltender has put on in quite some time. He always seemed to be there to answer the bell whenever he was called upon to do so. I have a feeling many people will be agreeing with me on this one that Zane Gothberg is the most deserving for team MVP this season.

My Offensive Player of the Year isn't going to be quite as easy to pick out. There are a couple of deserving players on this team to earn this title. However, I am giving this award to Michael Parks. Parks has proven himself in every single game and has very few flaws to his game. He always goes hard on the forecheck and battles hard in the corners. It is also very hard to knock Parks off of the puck and especially inside the offensive zone. The master of the wrap around tallied up 30 points this season, and looks to be a team leader next season. Michael Parks is my Offensive Player of the Year.

For my Defensive Player of the Year I go with the obvious choice in Dillon Simpson. He was the Ryan Suter comparison for UND this year playing the big minutes and in important situations for this team. Along with his ability to block shots better than almost anyone in the NCAA, Simpson is also one of the best puck movers on the blue line as well, which is why coach Hakstol had him running things there on the power play. Dillon Simpson is the easy choice, for me, for Defensive Player of the Year.

For my ROY I go to another defenseman, and Grand Forks native, Paul LaDue. LaDue's highlight game of the season probably came in their 9-2 victory over Miami when he was an outstanding +6 on the game. LaDue also would be one of the top freshman in +/- this season, and his opponents would find it hard to score whenever he was on the ice. LaDue is looking to be a leader on the blue line for UND for the years to come making it easy for me to pick him as ROY.

Finally for my Unsung Hero. I'm sure you all can guess where this one is going. This walk-on laid it out on the line for every shift he was able to play giving it 110%. He would always make a play that seemed to get the guys fired up at key times, and either set up, or score, goals at key times in games. I give this to Edina, Minnesota's Connor Gaarder. The junior was on fire down the stretch run and into the playoffs. Gaarder would score the game winner against Western Michigan in the NCHC third place game, which ultimately sent them to the NCAA tournament. Gaarder would also score the 2OT winner against Ferris State to send UND to their 20th Frozen Four and 6th in their last 10 seasons. Gaarder could have been the poster child for this team because his play is North Dakota Hockey to a tee.

Well another season gone and another season of a lot of success, but still no big one for coach Hakstol. I see nothing but bright things in the future for this program and next season should be a fun one that's for sure.

After their loss in overtime last night, UND would fall to 15th in the pairwise putting their NCAA tournament bid in jeopardy. However, depending on how some of the other conference tournaments end up next weekend, they quite possibly could be out already for the first time in 12 seasons.

Much like Friday night, UND would find themselves in a hole and having to make their way out of it once again. With an early second period goal for Colorado College, they looked to put North Dakota away and extend this to a third game Sunday night. However, about two and a half minutes after CC would go up 2-0, UND sophomore Drake Caggiula would find the twine and put North Dakota on the board.

As the clock would become the enemy of North Dakota in the third, coach Dave Hakstol would look for a late spark in his team, and who better to look to then your top line, the "Funky Bunch" line as I like to call them, of Drake Caggiula, Mark MacMillian, and Michael Parks. The line would combine for five points in the series opener, and with Caggiula already on the board in this one, why not?

With just under four minutes remaining in the third, MacMillian and Caggiula would factor in on Jordan Schmaltz's game tying goal and the Ralph would erupt. With the late goal, the fans, and the guys sitting on the bench would hope that momentum would shift in their favor heading into the overtime period.

Exactly seven minutes into the first overtime, the game would be over when CC freshman Alex Roos would find a hole and fire the puck past Zane Gothberg. This game would be just the second time in Gothberg's last 18 starts that he would allow three or more goals.

Tonight is a must win for UND if they look to make the tournament for a 12th straight season, and want to fight for the inaugural NCHC Frozen Face-Off championship.

Friday, March 14, 2014

Grand Forks, ND – Coming into tonight’s game, the Colorado College Tigers were an offensively challenged hockey team, averaging 1.94 goals per game. The Tigers would get a quick start, scoring two goals before the game was eight minutes old.

“Giving up a two goal lead at very start of the game is always tough, especially at home,” sophomore forward Drake Caggiula said. “I thought we did a good job battling back in the last six, seven, eight minutes of the first period. Kind of set us up for the second period, there. I think that was mostly just nerves. We have a lot of young guys on the team, first playoff series and stuff like that. We will definitely be better tomorrow night.”

UND came out flat in the first period, and things weren’t clicking for the the Green and White. The momentum started to swing in the middle part of the first period. Sophomore defenseman Jordan Schmaltz made a great play on Tigers forward Jeff Collett to stop a breakaway, keeping the score at 2-0.

That play was a defining moment in the game.

“We dug ourselves a hole, the most important part was we found a way to dig ourselves out of that hole,” head coach Dave Hakstol said. “It’s a credit to our guys. We weren’t ready to play at the drop of the puck, but we fought our way back to get it within one goal, even though nothing was coming easy. We build from there in the second period.”

UND didn’t panic and they started chipping away at the Tigers lead. They would get one goal back in the first with a beautiful goal by sophomore forward Drake Caggiula and head into the first intermission, down 2-1.

“The crowd got into it. Every time the crowd gets into we start to get a little more amped up,” Caggiula said. “It would have been terrible to go into the first intermission down 2-0.”

UND’s fortunes would change in the second period. Forwards Michael Parks and Bryn Chyzyk would add two more goals and UND would head to the second intermission with a 3-2 lead.

“It was good to get a puck in the slot and luckily it went in,” Chyzyk said. “I kind of saw the play developing. I knew it was going to the guys skate. I thought he was going to kick it, but he kind of slid through there. It was a gift – kind of – so I took it. It was a nice to see. It was a nice pass from them.”

Brendan O’Donnell pushed the lead to 4-2 with a goal at the 08:08 mark of the third period. UND would hold on and get the win. The Tigers would outshoot UND 6-5 in the third period, but UND was never really in any danger.

When UND has a lead entering the third period, they usually win. Entering tonight’s game, UND had an impressive 16-1-1 (.917) record when leading after two periods. You can make that 17-1-1 (.921) with the 4-2 win.

Tomorrow night, the same two teams’ meet again in game two of the best-of-three series. North Dakota (21-11-3) will try and close out Colorado College (6-23-6) and move on to the Frozen Faceoff. Game time is 07:08 p.m. Central.

Interesting facts

UND is 10-0-1 all-time when forward Brendan O’Donnell scores a goal for UND. O’Donnell has scored (13g-17a—30pts) during his career at UND.